Link-o-Ramma for Aug 8

byChrisonAugust 8, 2009

Here’s some great stuff from around the blogosphere. I’ve heard sounds about bidding wars and markets heating up, in Toronto in particular. I can tell you that I got a call from my Realtor in Kelowna who had a flood of calls this morning for our unit here.

Norm Fisher from Saskatoon had some good comments in his post (the standard Realtor post) of the Market Week in Review. There are some deals to be had in Saskatoon, but I’m also not convnced that more air may come out of that market before it turns around. They started late, but still had a pretty big party…and every party comes with a hangover.

“Sale prices took a bit of a downturn as the average selling price of a Saskatoon home slid nine thousand dollars on a week-over-week basis to $281,400. Following six consecutive weeks of gains, the six-week average finally let up, sliding four thousand dollars from last week to $283,736, down from $296,934 for the same week in 2008. The four-week median came down just under a thousand bucks to $275,000, off thirteen thousand dollars from this same week in 2008.

The average underbid on properties that sold below the asking price took a pretty sharp drop, falling to just $9,173 from $13,550 the week before. That represents an average discount in the range of 3.2%, about 1.5% lower than what we’ve been seeing most weeks. “

“While there are signs that Canada’s economy is bottoming out, economic indicators remain at weak levels,and a rapid rebound shouldn’t be expected.”

No surprise with that pearl of wisdom, just gives me more time to buy. It’s the safe thing to say for an economist, but if/when there is a spike in productivity, GDP, and/or inflation, it won’t really appear much different than it is now. And getting economisits to agree is like herding cats.